Each Christmas, we spend a lot of time reviewing the year just gone. We scrutinise the numbers in our businesses; sales figures, production figures, financial figures and so on……we look at the numbers that Google Analytics throws up and try to decipher what the heck it all means.

But what about the words? Do we spend as much time worrying about them as we do with figures? Probably not.

Some people do worry about the words because they don’t feel confident in their own writing abilities. There’s nothing wrong with that. We’re all different.

Many of us, however, pay lip service to the quality of the words that we write and subsequently publish. We’re so pressurised by a lack of time, the first thing that goes out the window, is the checking process. Once you’ve pressed the ‘send’ button, it’s gone; mistakes and all. You’ve lost control of it and depending on where you’ve sent it you may not even know who’s going to read it.

For many businesses there is an expectation from their readers for the words that they publish to be correct, e.g. those of you in the legal, financial, education, learning & development sectors are expected to ensure that your written material is accurate, professional-looking and above all free from errors.

The first thing that will be damaged as a result of your errors is your hard-earned reputation.

So why don’t we focus on the words we write so much nowadays? Do they not matter? I think they’re equally as important, if not more important than the figures.

‘But you’re a proofreader, you’re bound to say that’, I hear you say. So what?

Just think about HOW you promote your business.

You write words for your website

You write words on a flyer or a brochure

You write words in a newsletter

You write words in an advertisement

You write words in a blog post and on social media

I could go on and list all the other things you do that involve writing words….

If you think about it you probably write a lot more words than you do numbers so what better reason to give them the TLC they deserve this Christmas.

A really good way of giving your words some valued TLC is to make sure they are checked properly, so here are 5 top tips that you can use to proofread your own writing:

Print off what you’ve written and put it to one side. Come back to it after a couple of hours. Your eyes and brain will have done something else by then and will be fresh to have another look.

Get somebody else to read it – if they’ve got the time.

Read it out loud.

Read it backwards. Doing that you will focus on every word and check that it’s spelt correctly.

If you don’t trust your own ability or knowledge of the English language sufficiently to do it yourself – call in a trained expert.

Working with a proofreader on a regular basis will save you time and money. You’ll be able to use that time to do something more profitable for your business.

By working together, you can be confident that your writing will be conveying the right message and that your customers will have confidence in you and your business.

If you think you need some help to give your words some TLC, give me a call…

Just when you thought you were getting the hang of verbs, let me throw a small spanner in the works and introduce something called a participle.

A participle is a word that is partly a verb and partly an adjective.

When used as a verb – there are 2 kinds of participles in English:

Present participle – ends in –ing and demonstrates an action as ongoing or incomplete, e.g.

We met a man walking to the shops.

Past participle – ends in –ed or –d for regular verbs, or with –t or –en, and demonstrates an action that has been completed, e.g.

Driven by rain, we sought shelter under a tree

Laughed at by his friends, he left the room

When used as an adjective:

the present participle has an active meaning, e.g.

the barking dog

a moving car

the past participle has a passive meaning, e.g.

a burnt tree

a painted door

So, maybe you weren’t aware that when you use a word ending in –ing, that you’re actually using a ‘present participle’? Likewise, when you use a word ending in –ed, you’re actually using a ‘past participle’.

You are now!

That’s it for verbs, next up I’ll be looking at adjectives and adverbs. Look out for another quick quiz.

If you’ve missed any of the previous parts of Grammar – Love it or Loathe it, select from the list below:

You’re much more likely to secure new business from a customer who has read your error-free content.
This will help you to create a GREAT first impression with prospective customers and enhance your reputation.

By eliminating errors you’ll feel more confident when writing.
I’ll help you to understand how to eliminate your errors so you can relax and focus your attention on things that really matter to you.

To create more time for you to run your business.
Do you want to spend more time running your business? Do you find that reading and re-reading your own work is a chore? Your eyes and brain are too close to the work to spot mistakes. Let me take that worry away from you.

To provide “An Independent Pair of Eyes” to review your writing.
Let me cast my trained eye over your work. I’m more likely to spot errors more quickly than you are as the author of the content.

To help you save money.
Do you know the cost of your time spent reading and re-reading your own work? It’s a lot more than you might think.

To save you from embarrassment.
There’s nothing more embarrassing than one of your customers noticing an error and then publicising it. I can help you to ‘get it RIGHT first time’.

To add value to your team.
I can be a virtual member of your team helping to make sure that your written content looks professional and is error-free, BEFORE in goes to print or to publication.

To reduce your waste paper volumes.
As you won’t have to re-print materials that originally contained errors, you can feel a whole lot better as you’re doing something towards reducing waste.

To remove your worries especially if you are dyslexic or if English is not your first language.

To provide a professional alternative to a spellchecker.
A spellchecker will not pick up words that have been spelt correctly but typed incorrectly.

‘Let’s eat Grandpa’ or should it be ‘Let’s eat, Grandpa’

Proofreading. Some people say it’s a really boring task and they can’t see the sense in it.

Well, maybe those people have never made a mistake in their lives. Everything they do is perfect and they live in the ‘best of all possible worlds’ (so says Voltaire’s Pangloss).

All I can say to that is there can’t be many of those people about. We all make mistakes whether we like it or not.

Do you pay any attention to the consequences of the mistakes you make, particularly in a business situation?

Some people make a judgement about a company by its website, its printed literature or other written content. Some, but not all, people will refuse to do business with you if they see spelling or grammatical errors in company literature or online content. They may think, ‘Why should I place my trust in a company that can’t be bothered to check its own work?’

People do judge a book by its cover, so if your cover is not up to expectations, people aren’t going to buy your book.

It’s all about creating a great first impression.

No matter what you are writing and ultimately publishing, and that includes correspondence with your customers, it will either be promoting your business or reflecting back on the quality of your business.

Having ‘an eye for the detail’ will help eradicate those pesky little errors that creep through and cause all those headaches.

So, maybe there is something to be said for a proofreader who will do the mundane boring stuff that you don’t want or need to do! You can get on with more worthwhile things.

What do they have in Common? Quite a lot, actually!

“A view from behind the stumps“

If, like me, you are a keen cricket fan, you will be well aware of the man standing behind the stumps and will probably look at the one wearing all the protective gear – the wicketkeeper. But spare a thought for the chap at the other end who invariably has his back to the TV camera.

I’m talking about the umpire – after all a cricket match can’t start without one – or preferably two! The umpires are the most important people on the field of play and their task is to keep a close eye on proceedings and make key decisions when called upon to do so.

But what does an umpire have in common with a proofreader? Well, the role of an umpire can be compared quite easily to that of a proofreader when you look at the various qualities required to perform each role.

The qualities required to be a cricket umpire include:

a) Concentration – an umpire must have the ability to concentrate for long periods of time. Every delivery is a potential LBW decision-in-waiting and an umpire must concentrate on all the aspects of the delivery in case he is called upon to make a judgement. He will have a split second to make his decision. In the event that he is not called upon to adjudge LBW, he must remain instantly aware as to what is happening and, when necessary, make the correct signal for the benefit of the scorers.

b) Knowledge of the laws of cricket – needless to say an umpire must know the laws of the game and the local playing conditions and how to interpret them at any given moment during the match.

c) Impartiality – an umpire must remain impartial at all times and not favour one team over the other.

d) Respect – an umpire will respect the players from both sides and will expect the players to respect his decisions.

e) Technology – the elite umpires these days have access to all sorts of technology to aid their decision making. Unfortunately, at grass roots level, this technology is not available and the umpire must rely on his powers of observation in order to make a split second decision.

Let’s compare these qualities with those required by a proofreader:

a) Concentration – a proofreader must have an eye for detail and therefore be able to concentrate for long periods in order to identify the smallest of errors. As much proofreading is done ‘on-screen’ nowadays, it is advisable to take frequent breaks to give the eyes a bit of respite (which an umpire can also do, to a certain extent, when standing at square leg and when his colleague is behind the stumps – always assuming that there are two umpires officiating, which is not always the case in some grass roots cricket – thereby making the powers of concentration even more important!)

b) Knowledge of the rules of proofreading – proofreaders are trained to use the British Standard Proofreading Symbols. This is vital when proofreading hard copies on behalf of book publishers. Nevertheless, the skill of when to use each symbol appropriately comes through much practice and experience

c) Impartiality – if authors proofread their own work, no matter how many times it is read and re-read, errors will still be found. Proofreaders reading a piece of work for the first time will remain impartial throughout and be much more likely to spot errors first time around.

d) Respect – proofreaders will always respect the author’s voice and will never seek to change this without obtaining the author’s agreement.

e) Technology – much modern day proofreading is done ‘on-screen’ using such tools as Track Changes in MS Word. A proofreader, therefore, has to be familiar with and keep up-to-date with technological advances as well as remaining familiar with the traditional methods of proofreading on hard copies. The ease with which documents can be emailed between publisher/ author and the proofreader has made life a lot easier but at the same time has increased the pressure on proofreaders to turn a document around that much quicker.

It’s remarkable how similar the qualities are, however, I suppose one difference between an umpire and a proofreader is that, by and large, a proofreader does his work sitting down! An umpire is on his feet for the entire game which, in the case of a Test Match, can go on for five days and will require significant levels of stamina.

So what’s the moral of this little tale?

Just as an umpire is crucial to a game of cricket, a proofreader is crucial in the process of publishing a book or business document. Without either, the outcome could be very costly.

Without an umpire, the game of cricket is much poorer. Without a proofreader, your business could be much poorer for maybe having to reprint books or documents when you could easily have got it right first time.

I’m a qualified cricket umpire and I am also a trained proofreader, so please contact me (peter@ppgproofreading.co.uk) if you think I can help you or your business to “get it right first time”.